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In a status report submitted by Delhi Police, Crime branch, to the Delhi High Court, it has states that Maulana Saad and Markaz management were informed about the hazard posed by COVID19 and yet they “deliberately, wilfully, negligently and malignantly disobeyed the lawful directions”.
Joy Tirkey, DCP (Crime HQ) informed the court that Over 900 Tablighi Jamaat attendees have joined the probe and passports of 723 foreign nationals and 23 Nepalese nationals have been taken into possession by police.
The Indian Express reported that the Delhi police submitted, “participation in Tablighi Jamaat by these foreign nationals who had entered India on tourist visa was in violation of the provisions of the Visa Manual 2019 and as such the act made them liable to be prosecuted under section 14 of The Foreigners Act, 1946.”
The status report further states that on March 21, Markaz management was contacted by Delhi police to apprise them of the threat of COVID19 and were asked to send the foreigners back to their respective countries. “However, no one paid any heed to the lawful directions of Delhi Police. Moreover, an audio recording purportedly by Maulana Mohd Saad, head of the Tablighi Jamaat, was found in circulation on WhatsApp on 21.03.2020, in which the speaker was heard asking his followers to defy the lockdown and social distancing and to attend the religious gathering of the Markaz,” the report read.
The report also states that on March 24, an SHO met with Maulana Saad and Markaz management since prohibitory orders were issued by Delhi government on social gatherings in the capital. The reports states that despite of verbal information as well as written notices, Maulana Saad and the management of Markaz did not inform the government about the gathering within the premises and “deliberately, wilfully, negligently and malignantly disobeyed lawful directions promulgated in this regard”.
The report claims that around 1,300 devotees from across the country as well as from various countries were in the premises without following any social distancing norms and without using face masks and hand sanitizers.
The report stated that Saad and others had “allowed a huge gathering to assemble inside a closed premises, over a protracted period of time, without any semblance of social distancing or provision of masks and sanitisers, and thereby caused a situation where a highly infectious disease… may spread and threaten the lives of inmates and general public at large”.
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